You have Yann Sauve, the 1st overall pick in the QMJHL, who dropped to the second round with questions about having tools with no toolbox. Then you have Steve Anthony, a guy who many thought (before at least) could be a first round pick this year, who has work ethic issues. I'm beginning to wonder if Despres could have been up there with Cowen.

Steven Anthony hasn’t gotten many pats on the back the past two years, but he’s hoping for one Saturday.

The Halifax native — who once appeared destined for stardom — will put two long, difficult seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs behind him if he hears his name called in the mid-to-late rounds of the NHL draft at Bell Centre in Montreal.

Anthony admittedly hasn’t lived up to somewhat lofty expectations in the QMJHL, struggling with his confidence under Sea Dogs bench boss Jacques Beaulieu — a coach with a hard-nosed reputation — who was fired in the off-season.

“He’s hard on some of his players … He didn’t give you positive feedback,” Anthony says. “As a young kid, you’ve never had that before from a coach. You’ve always had positive coaching. I took it personally and got down on myself and that’s my fault. But I’ve learned and become better for it.”

The six-foot-two, 190-pound centre’s offensive gifts have never been questioned. He was a scoring sensation with the Dartmouth Subways and his talent had him ranked by some scouts as the No. 1 prospect for the 2007 QMJHL draft.

But his mercurial competitive level has been a bone of contention with scouts for many years, even when he broke out in the second half last season with 30 points in the final 29 games. In 93 previous games, he had only produced 32 points.

“If he more consistently played his best game, he’d be in the top echelon of the draft,” says Central Scouting director E.J. McGuire, who ranks Anthony 184th among North Americans. “We’d be talking about him as a first-rounder.”

Anthony, it seems, recognizes his criticisms.

“Scouts see I’ve got talent and I can play,” Anthony says, “but it’s game-in and game-out, not getting down on myself and playing focused and positive every game.”

Talent alone might be enough to get Anthony drafted. And if the 18-year-old can learn from his past, the team that picks him could end up reaping the rewards in a few years.

“If I hadn’t gone through the past two years, I probably wouldn’t feel as prepared to make the next step as I am today,” Anthony says. “Everything in the past is in the past.”

Steven Anthony almost gave up hope that he would be drafted on Saturday but then everything changed at the last minute.

The Vancouver Canucks made a late trade to acquire a seventh-round pick (187th overall) at the NHL draft in Montreal, which they used to select the Halifax native.

"As it’s winding down, you’re just thinking ‘Oh man, there’s only so many picks left’ and it keeps getting less and less," he said. "I was just really fortunate and lucky.

"It was the longest three hours of my life. I was sitting there just hitting refresh, refresh, refresh on the computer. I was eventually refreshing slower as it was winding down but then I got a call from Vancouver telling me they selected me. I didn’t believe it at first but then I refreshed and there it was."

Anthony spent the last two seasons with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs, accumulating 62 points in 122 games, including 48 points in 67 games last season. His strongest stretch was in the second half last year when he posted 29 points in 30 games.

The six-foot-two, 195-pound forward was a huge scorer in bantam and midget but is the first to admit he has struggled with consistency in major junior. He feels like that will change now that he’s been picked by an NHL team.

"It definitely gives you a boost of confidence," Anthony said. "I lose confidence here and there sometimes but with this, it’s boosted me back up and it’s making me believe I can be the player I think I can be. It’s just a good feeling. I know it’s going to pass over to my game and to my confidence. I feel like I’ll be playing with the fun I used to play with again."

Anthony is also encouraged the Canucks engineered a trade on the draft floor just so they could get him. They dealt Shaun Heska to the Phoenix Coyotes to get the pick they used on Anthony, who feels like getting his foot in the door with an NHL team will help him get a fresh start.

"I’m looking at it like that, especially (since) Vancouver didn’t have a pick in the last round," Anthony said. "They traded for a seventh-round pick and ended up using it on me. That shows that they do want me. If they pick you, that means that they have interest in you and that’s what matters. This is just so exciting."

Anthony said he had no idea who would pick him but talked about a meeting he had two weeks ago with a Halifax native who scouts for the Canucks.

"I had an interview with Darrell Young two Fridays ago and I guess it went well," Anthony said. "I don’t know if he had anything to do with me being picked but I appreciate whoever it was that (recommended) me.

"Being out in Halifax, you watch a game in Vancouver and it starts at around 12 o’clock at night so you don’t catch many of them. But I know Yann Sauve well because we’re on the same team and he’s a big fan of the team, obviously being drafted by them last year. He has a lot of good things to say about the organization. This just feels so good. I’m speechless."

Nice article, this guy seems like he's really hard on himself though, hopefully our player development program will be able to fix that up.

Yeah, I have read some interesting things on him,he is a real wild card, it will be fun watching him develop, good or bad. Its great to have somebody like that in the prospect pool to keep an eye on, with Sauve there as well it will be that much better.

Yeah, I have read some interesting things on him,he is a real wild card, it will be fun watching him develop, good or bad. Its great to have somebody like that in the prospect pool to keep an eye on, with Sauve there as well it will be that much better.
Now, who will the coach be?

Not sure if he'll pan out, but in the 7th round, it just seems so much smarter to go for a guy that has an upside, rather than a guy who is just as big a longshot, but is drafted for character or size.
I'd rather take my chances on talent, and hope you can help with all of the off ice stuff.

It's not like he's a head case or anything. Just a guy who's struggled to live up to expectations and if he can get his confidence back he's got a shot.

Character guys (if that's all they bring to the table) can be signed as free agents. Talent is hard to acquire.
I couldn't stand FedFed, but I would rather have taken my chances on him, over the typical Ryan Thorpe's of the hockey world.

I hope Gallant can help with this kid.

The fact we are discussing a guy who was almost left undrafted is better then in years past though.

29 points in his last 30 games is certainly a nice statistic, seems like he found a modicum of consistency there. Hopefully with the new coaches onboard he can continue to build on the tail end of his season. This pick certainly beats the pants off of other late picks like Evan Fuller or Morgan Clark...(I understand the rationale for the Clark pick, but still--this is the kind of player we should be taking with our late rounders).

It's not like he's a head case or anything. Just a guy who's struggled to live up to expectations and if he can get his confidence back he's got a shot.
I hope Gallant can help with this kid.

Everything I have read about Gallant indicates that he is a terrific coach.
If Stevens is "struggling with his confidence" next year, we can assume that the problems do not lie with the coach.
If Gallant is unable to overcome any work-ethic issues this kid may or may not have...I doubt any AHL or NHL coach will be able to fix it, either.
This kid is definitely worth a 7th round pick, IMO.

It seems to me that MG is going to be picking players that picked up their game in the second half of the season and started to produce more and more....Like his pick last year with Prab Rai who picked up his scoring in the second half before being drafted it seems hes doing hte same with Anthony who if all the scouts say is a first round talent with work ethic issues i am very glad with teh pick espically after seeing how Bernier supposedly had work ethic issues and went on to be one of our most consistent players as far as putting in effort